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Forest destruction roughly 20% of global GHG emissions. Illegal logging  serious env. and social damage. Costing governments an estimated $10 billion every year in lost revenues. It is estimated that up to 50 per cent of tropical hardwood imported into Europe is from illegal sources Sources: EC briefing notes 2007, WWF UK 2005

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FLEGT Action Plan: in more detail Focuses on 6 broad areas: 1.Support to timber-producing countries 2.Activities to promote trade in legal timber 3.Promoting public procurement policies 4.Support for private sector initiatives 5.Financing and investment 6.Use of existing legislative instruments or adoption of new legislation to support the Plan

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binding bilateral agreement between the EU and a Partner Country improving governance: –measures to build capacity, –improve control and monitoring, –enhance transparency –support measures to mitigate any negative impacts on poor people Export licenses for the EU based on legality verification Secured and improved EU market access Voluntary Partner Agreements (VPA)

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Legality Assurance System (LAS ) FLEGT licensing requires a Legality Assurance System (LAS) which has 5 components –A definition of legally-produced timber –A system to verify compliance with definitions –A system to trace products from forest to export –A licensing system for exports –Independent monitoring of all components

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EU FLEGT licensing scheme: current negotiations VPAs currently restricted to: Malaysia, Indonesia, Ghana, Cameroon and Kongo-Brazaville But only with Malaysia negotiations entered into an official phase of negotiation

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Critiques from NGOs FLEGT does not prevent illegal timber going via third countries such as China and ending up in the EU. FLEGT does not cover pulp or paper - responsible for a significant proportion of the EU's timber imports. WWF is calling for EU-wide legislation to prohibit the importation of illegal timber into the EU, regardless of the country of origin. (WWF 2005)